Sunday, 28 July 2013

Endless Desire [1958]

Most agree that Imamura truly established himself with
Pigs & Battleships; but if Endless Desire, the third feature of his debut year and
ostensibly just another studio quickie, is anything to go by, he was
already on his way towards greatness. This pitch black comedy and post-noir
provided a fascinating display of his thematic and stylistic traits – the
ability to provide a darkly humorous peek into the seedy underbelly of post-War
Japanese society. On the tenth anniversary of Japan’s surrender, a bumbling and
hen-pecked middle-aged man (Taiji Tonoyama), a slimy teacher with the most
ludicrous laugh imaginable (Shoichi Ozawa), a psychotic criminal, and a deceptively
normal fourth man, along with a scheming femme fatale (Misako Watanabe), meet
in order to lay their hands on a cache of Morphine. The mutually distrustful
comrades hire a dilapidated house using faked identities in the locality, and
start digging a hole at nights in order to get hold of the unlikely treasure.
Their best laid plans, however, start going astray with the presence of a
dim-witted guy (Hiroyuki Nagato) hopelessly in love with a pretty neighborhood
girl, a leery and grotesque older man who keeps barging in, the government’s
plans to demolish the slum, and of course, each member trying to outguess and
back-stab the others. It’s obvious from the beginning that things shall end disastrously
for them, and they do in the most trenchantly ironic and incredibly amusing
manner. The droll and twisted world-view, the sexual undercurrents, the array
of hopeless low-lives and losers, the messy and filthy interiors and locales, the
brilliant performances by all, and by Ozawa, Tonoyama and Nagato in particular,
and the chiaroscuro photography, made this early Imamura a savagely funny watch.